


Just a Day, Just an... Ordinary(?) Day

by FortunesRevolver



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/M, Woo!, this was fun.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 08:24:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12207465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FortunesRevolver/pseuds/FortunesRevolver
Summary: Request: Souji and Naoto working together in the future. Not necessarily just a case, but some sort of day-to-day shenanigans.





	Just a Day, Just an... Ordinary(?) Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was... actually pretty fun to write. I haven’t gotten to write Persona 4 characters in a good long while, so I really hope I’ve not lost my touch completely. Still, it was a lot of fun to try and imagine them somewhere in the future -- not too far, of course. They’re likely still dating and living together, but you can interpret it any way you wish.

**7:15am**

It was, in Naoto’s brutally honest opinion, too early to be walking to an office. Of course, logically, she could easily deduce that the problem likely related to her unfortunate habit of staying up until the later hours of the morning working on cases -- or sometimes simply just reading -- but when one was  _ tired _ , logic hardly mattered. All she wanted in that moment was to turn around, go back to her apartment, and crawl into bed. 

The only silver lining in all this was that the Shirogane Detective Agency did not open until 8:30 in the morning, and the small lobby  _ did _ have a sofa. At the very least, she could rest her eyes until it was time to begin business for the day. Alas, appealing as the idea might have been, the thought that she might end up nodding off and snoozing through the better part of the morning pushed the thought away. She’d worked on empty before; most of her first year in high school had been spent running herself ragged with a group of wayward friends. Surely she could make it through a single day -- and  _ hopefully _ remember to turn in early tonight. Hopefully.

Bracing herself, Naoto drew a pair of keys from her pocket and slipped through the front door of her three-room business rental and stopped.

The lights were on, the curtains were open, and the entire office held a strong, pleasant smell.

“Good morning, Naoto,” from a door on the left that lead into a small kitchenette, Souji stepped out. His suit was clean, pressed, and distractingly neat on his lithe figure. His smile was gentle and sweet, a knowing look in his eyes as he crossed the room with a mug clutched in his hands full of warm and steaming…

“Coffee.” Naoto murmured intelligently, her gaze locked in on the mug she eagerly stumbled forward to take. “Coffee.”

“Coffee.” Souji confirmed with a small chuckle, relinquishing his grasp on the mug. “Three sugars; one creamer.”

“You’re a saint.”

Souji nodded. “So you’ve said.”

“I mean it,” Naoto murmured around the lip of her mug, inhaling the warm aroma. “You’re wonderful.”

“That’s me,” Souji grinned, guiding Naoto toward the sofa, “your wonderful coffee monkey.”

“Hardly,” Naoto scoffed and sighed in contentment as she took a deep gulp. “You’re far more than that.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. If memory serves, you also bring me files whenever I ask and cook most of my meals.” Another sip. “And you give the most delightful foot rubs. You are far, far more than a mere monkey.”

Souji laughed and leaned against Naoto’s shoulder, a small spark of light in his eyes. “And what might that be?”

“A truly admirable butler.”

Freezing, Souji’s expression flashed from startled, to shocked, to a squint as he groaned and flopped against the back of the sofa. “...I walked right into that.”

“As you do most mornings.” Naoto hummed, a smile hidden behind her mug. “But thank you; this is just what I needed.”

**8:26am**

It was the first time they’d gotten a case so soon after opening the entire year. Most cases would consist of a file coming in the mail, or a telephone invite from a local law enforcement center from a nearby city. Sometimes they would receive video chats asking them to travel to a distant part of Japan or even to another country, but it was rare that someone marched into their Agency so soon after opening.

Especially one quite as unique as this.

“...could you tell me again when you realised this crime occurred?” Naoto asked, her tone slow and careful as she eyed the woman in front of her.

The woman on the other side of her desk was tall and muscular, sporting a brilliant green dress that looked more appropriate for an opera than an office. Pearls and jewels adorned her neck and ears, glimmering in the overhead lights and trembling with every movement the woman made, especially the dramatic blowing of her nose that seemed to occur every few sentences.

“O-of course,” the woman , a foreigner, judging by her accent, nodded frantically, her huge, decorated hat-- it must have had carried half a flower shop -- nearly tumbling off her head. “Mr. Tuffington the third was in my home last night, I know because I bathed and brushed his luscious fur before bed as I always do. It’s our routine, you see. He loves being pampered. But when I got ready to go out this morning and I went to his bedroom, he was  _ gone.” _

“His bedroom?” Naoto frowned, her eyebrows drawing together. 

“Of course! Don’t you give your children bedrooms here?”

Surely a child wouldn’t have been described as having  _ fur, _ but giving an entire bedroom to a cat or dog wasn’t unheard of. Souji had, after all, dedicated one of their bedrooms to their own felines. “Err, yes, we do. But Mr. Tuffington is… a cat?”

“A cat? Heavens no!” The woman shook her head. “He’s a hamster.”

Behind the woman, a string of strained coughs rang out and Naoto turned, her gaze sharp as she recognized Souji’s attempt to hide a laugh. His lips were tight, his expression twisted into a forced look of concentration as he made a silent motion toward the woman’s head.

Following his head, Naoto was suddenly forced to hold back her own bark of laughter as a small, fuzzy body vanished from sight under a particularly large fabric rose. “Ma’am, with respect…”

“Y-yes?”

“Might I be able to examine your hat?”

“My hat…?” She repeated, startled, but seemed to comply as she carefully took her hat off and set it on the desk. “I don’t understand, is this going to help you find Mr. Tuffington?”

“You… might say that.” Naoto murmured and carefully pushed several flower petals out of the way. A moment later, a small, fuzzy head popped out of the mass of leaves.

“Mr. Tuffington!” The screech made both Naoto and the hamster she’d just picked up jump, her pale fingers unconsciously curling around the small body only to have it snatched away. “Oh, Mr. Tuffington! I’ve missed you! Mother was so, so worried!”

“I think…” Souji stepped forward, an easy smile on his face, “we can consider this case closed, Detective Shirogane?”

“Y...es,” Naoto nodded. “Yes, I believe we can. I’m pleased we could have helped you reunite with your… child.”

“Of yes, thank you--how much do I owe you?”

“Er, if you’ll just follow Detective Seta to the lobby--”

“Of course, of course. Thank you! Come, Mr. Tuffington, we have a busy day ahead.”

Nearly ten minutes later, Souji returned to Naoto’s office to find her head buried in her arms and the unmistakable sound of muffled laughter shaking her shoulders.

**10:42am**

A loud ring filled the room, prompting Naoto to jerk away from the all-too-soothing hands working away on her shoulders with a small groan.

“Shirogane and Seta Detective Agency, how may I assist you?”

Souji watched, silent, as Naoto murmured into the phone, occasionally nodding her head as she took several rapid notes. Her eyebrows were drawn tightly together, an odd light in her eyes. “Yes… of course. I’d be happy to join both of you in a video call tomorrow to discuss the files. Please have them sent to my email. ...yes. I look forward to speaking with you as well. Have a good day.”

“Another case?” Souji asked, taking the phone as it was set aside. 

“Something like that -- it was an officer in Tokyo. Apparently, a few… odd cases have arisen in the past weeks and they were hoping I might be willing to look it over.”

“Odd…?”

“We’ll be getting an overview of the case sometime this afternoon. From what they’ve said, it sounds as if major criminals have been confessing to crimes without any feasible prompting.”

“Sounds like the kind of odd we specialize in,” Souji grinned and stepped behind Naoto’s chair again.

**2:14pm**

Arms slid around Naoto’s waist as she filled a second mug with hot water and a chin came to rest on her shoulder.

“More coffee?”

“We’re out of instant,” Naoto shook her head and gave a small string a light tug. “I’m making us tea. I shouldn’t be relying on coffee as much as I have.”

“Your liver thanks you, I’m sure,” Souji chuckled, turning Naoto around. “What flavour today?”

“Green.”

“Very healthy choice,” Souji smiled. “It’ll definitely offset all the coffee.”

“...ha, ha,” Naoto huffed. “I can still dispose of your drink and leave you to make your own.”

“Ah, but that would be a waste.”

“Perhaps,” Naoto shrugged, raising an eyebrow, “but certainly worth it to see through my… minor payback.”

“ _ Just _ minor?” Souji pouted, his lip protruding dramatically. “Aren’t you supposed to see to justice, detective? Not revenge?”

“One must always be willing to bend certain rules to meet the end of their means.”

“So you’ve taught me,” Souji smirked. “Several times. I believe one of them involved you climbing into a--ack! H-hey! Naoto! No! Th-that--!  _ A-ah….hehehe--no--ahaha…! _ ”

**4:56pm**

As she walked past the TV set up in the lobby, Naoto felt something grab her wrist and she jerked around, eyes wide. “Wh-what the…?!”

“...Naoto… Shirogane…”

“Souji Seta, what on  _ earth _ are you doing inside the television!?”

“Seven days…”

“...really?” Naoto sighed and placed her hand against Souji’s forehead. “You are banned from horror movies for a week.”

“Aw, but Naoto--!” The rest of his sentence was cut off, as he was pushed backwards and tumbled back into the screen with a soft ‘pop.’

**4:59pm**

“Naoto… The branch I was using to reach the portal broke.”

“That’s very unfortunate, Mr. Seta.”

“H-hey…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I can pull myself up like this.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Naoto…”

“It is fortunate that you are a detective. Surely if you were able to get yourself  _ inside _ the TV World irresponsibly, you are capable of investigating and deducing an equally irresponsible way of getting yourself out.”

“. . .”

**5:05pm**

“Naotooooo… I’m sorry! Please get the rope.”

Silence, then a sigh. “Do try not to break anything else while I retrieve it. Including yourself or other plant life. Teddie has been working quite hard to keep that world in order.”

**7:46pm**

“Naoto?” Souji stepped into the office, his voice soft as he moved further inside. “Are you--oh…” 

With a soft sigh, Souji made his way over to the desk and shook his head. Slumped over in her chair, a slumbering Naoto clutched a case file loosely between her fingers, unaware half the sheets had fallen to the floor.

“We really need to get you to bed earlier…” he murmured, shrugging off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders. 

Soft, slow, and ever so quiet, he bent forward to place a gentle kiss against her forehead as he removed her hat, before kneeling down to clean up.

**Author's Note:**

> Extra: The rope in this story is affectionately referred to as The Dope Rope, as it saves dopes from when they’ve done something foolish. It has been used on Souji no less than twelve times, and Yosuke at least seven.


End file.
